Monday Morning Bearcub Brief
Volume CXXXII-30 March 2020
"Every CUB stepping up, reaching out, moving forward!"
Kleb Kudos
There are so many people that have taken up the mantle to make sure virtual learning is up and running that it is hard to narrow it down this week to just a few kudos. So I will first say thank you to all of our staff for your hard work and dedication to ensure our kids have a meaningful curriculum to work through and a reliable teacher to connect with through our office hours and tons of email communication.
However, there are four ladies who have really taken on the leadership role to make sure that we have taken care of students across the district. Our specialists have been leading the charge, through creating the actual lessons implemented through the district curriculum while also leading our content area teams during this first round of virtual PLC's. Thank you so, so, much to Kim Sharp, Susan Collier, Kelsey Marino and Paula Freund for all of the amazing work you do every day on campus, but particularly during this virtual learning implementation. You ladies rock!
Huggins Highlights
Parents, thank you so much for your continued help in keeping our Bearcubs engaged in the learning process.
This week (3/30-4/3) students will begin coursework over the essential standards we have not yet covered through Schoology. They will access this work just like they did during the school day before the shutdown--by going to their teacher's schoology page. This week they will have work in all subjects, not just the core academic areas. As of now, I have verified with all of our teachers that the lessons have been published, so have your students log in and check out what they need to do this week.
A few parents have asked for some clarity about exactly what they should be doing versus the responsibility of staff, so the district has come out with this guideline:
As with last week, if you need help with your technology let your needs be known at kisd.us/familytechsupport
No internet at home? Comcast is providing free internet. Click here for details.
The Klein ISD page dedicated to the pandemic situation continues to be updated; you don't have to search through your email to find everything, the updates are still housed at kleinisd.net/COVID19.
Finally, and probably most important, our virtual office hours schedule is now posted so you know when your Bearcub can get support with their questions about the new material! They are welcome to attend the virtual office hours with any teacher for help, not just the one they are currently assigned to. We want to make sure our students have multiple times to access help because I know everyone's schedule is different. Here is the schedule (it will be posted on our website as well), and I know the images are small, so each is linked to the actual document.
6th Grade Virtual Office Hours/Tutorials
7th Grade Virtual Office Hours/Tutorials
8th Grade Virtual Office Hours/Tutorials
Students are able to access these virtual office hours/tutorial times by following the Zoom link available in Schoology.
Staff and parents, the district is working on the last stages of signing us up for Remind as a better solution for us to communicate with each other. Hopefully at some point this week it will go live and we will all get more information. Staff, this should be automatically populated with your class information and give you an easier way to contact parents. In the meantime, parents remember that if you get a call from a blocked number, it is probably from one of our staff members checking in on you!
Staff, I will continue to send you a daily check-in email so that you aren't having to wait to get all pertinent information...however, I know that for those of you with little kids or other family at home to take care of, it is a lot of information to go through. Rather than rolling out new information here, I'm going to recap all of the major highlights from my last week's emails so it's all in one place for reference. If you have kept up, there's nothing new in here...just skip to the bottom! This will start with the most recent on the top:
- Give yourselves grace!!! Imperfect virtual learning is what's best for kids when the alternative is no learning resources. Just do the best you can and forgive yourself for things not being up to your normal standard. And I would rather our Bearcubs have you at your imperfect state right now than anyone else--you guys are awesome and you love our kids!
- Make sure that you are posting and publishing all of your content in Schoology by Friday at 5pm so our parent community can help our Bearcubs plan their week over the weekend.
- Please communicate your office hours with Mrs. Hodge (Check! Everyone got this done...thank you!)
- The admin team is going to start sending out a blank copy of our virtual lesson monitoring Google sheet to use as a checklist so you know that you've hit all the important to-do items for the week. No surprises!
- Zoom is a yes, there was a rumor that we were not supposed to use it, but we are good to go. Legal reviewed it and it's FERPA compliant. Check out Kim's tricks and tips she emailed out. Just don't record when you are on office hours with kids.
- As you contact parents, if you need translation assistance for Spanish speakers, use the translation request on the Kleb dashboard--thank you to Senora Colon, Senora Petterson, Senor Blanco and Mr. Ortiz for your help!
- Go to kisd.us/StaffAtHomeLearning for some really good learning; Ms. Sharp did several of the webinars and I have heard from many of you that they have been amazing.
- Faculty meetings each Monday at 10am until we don't need it. Then I will transition into it being office hours to pop in and ask questions.
- Take off your out-of-office and check your voicemail if you haven't already
Thank you guys so much for all that you are doing to keep our kids learning! If you have any questions or concerns at all, please feel free to email, text, call or whatever works best; just let your needs be known!
Cubs of the Week
AnaLucia Varela-- 6th Grade
Bella Benton--7th Grade
Bella is a Pathway Explorer who is always up for a challenge. She works hard to achieve her goals and inspires others in the process.
Darby Molitoris-- 8th Grade
Teacher of the Week--Kim Sharp--Digital Learning Specialist
I am nominating Kim Sharp as this week's teacher of the week just based on the sheer volume of amazing work she has done with the staff to get our virtual school off the ground. Webinars, Zoom meetings, working with district, helping countless people with their tech questions...and all with an amazing attitude and a smile on her face. She embodies the district's "we not me" vision and we literally could not do the work this way without her. Thank you so much, Ms. Sharp!!!
--Clay Huggins
Staff Spotlight --Vivian Fridley-Hereford-- Art Teacher
"If you do not ask, the answer is no"
West Virginia
How many years have you been in education?
38 years (Doc was my art teacher when I was at Klein Oak!!! -Mr. H)
Where did you go to school?
Point Pleasant High School, West Virginia
What is the most impressive thing you know how to do?
Hmm - pack a backpack
What are you really good at, but kind of embarrassed that you are good at it?
Blowing doors off cars when in a hurry down Interstate 45 (there has to be a story here...)
If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
French vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce
If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning a medal for?
Organizing closets
Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life? Why?
ET - the alien cared about others and was sincere
If you could join any past or current music group which would you want to join? Why?
Beatles - they touched people's lives
Next Year's Calendar
Have a great week, Bearcubs!
Kleb Intermediate
Email: lhuggins1@kleinisd.net
Website: kleb.kleinisd.net
Location: 7425 Louetta Road, Spring, TX, United States
Phone: 832-249-5500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KlebKISD/
Twitter: @KlebKISD